For human beings of all ages, a healthy diet includes adequate quantities of water. Without water, life is impossible. Although the general importance of water in the human diet is widely recognized, it is a rather common problem that many infants and toddlers do not ingest enough water. This is due, at least in part, to water's general lack of flavor.
It is often advisable to increase the dietary intake of water for infants and children afflicted by various health problems. Such health problems include, for example, dehydration, constipation, and Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of eyes). As mentioned above, however, very young children often refuse to drink adequate quantities of water even under normal circumstances. Clearly, it is very important to encourage young children suffering from illness to drink not only their ordinary daily requirements of water, but also any additional quantities necessitated by their illness.
Another potential problem facing toddlers and small children, which can be curtailed by sufficient water intake, is tooth decay. Tooth decay may be brought on by extended exposure of a child's teeth to decay promoting beverages including those high in sugar content. Parents will often provide a baby with a bottle in order to pacify the child and get the child to sleep. Usually, the bottle will contain a liquid, other than water, which is more well readily accepted by the baby (e.g., fruit juice). In many circumstances, the baby will fall asleep with the bottle in its mouth. Unfortunately, the sugars and acids generally found is such liquids can cause tooth decay. In addition to causing decay, such sugars and acids can serve to worsen existing tooth decay. A similar problem often occurs when sugar is added to water as part of an effort to encourage a child to drink it. The addition of sugar to a child's drinking water sometimes takes place in hospitals.
In an effort to reduce the harsh effects of sugars and acids upon the baby's teeth, some parents dilute fruit juice with water before they give it to their baby. Although such action might help to mitigate decay problems, nevertheless the harsh effects are not eliminated. Of course, such problems could be entirely avoided if water were given to the baby instead of a liquid containing sugars and/or acids.
In view of the foregoing, there is clearly a need for a beverage dispensing arrangement capable of successfully encouraging young children to drink adequate amounts of water. Such an arrangement would help to ensure that children, both those which are healthy and those suffering from illness, would drink quantities of water sufficient to met daily recommended amounts. Further, such an arrangement would help avoid the problems of tooth decay since water is generally devoid of common cavity causing agents.
As can be readily ascertained from the foregoing, various improvements in the design and construction of beverage dispensing arrangements are desirable.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved beverage dispensing arrangement.
It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a beverage dispensing arrangement which is embodied in a nipple or straw for a drinking container, such as a baby's drinking bottle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an odored and/or flavored beverage dispensing arrangement which is effective to encourage young children, infants and toddlers to successfully drink beverages, such as water, which are often refused due to a bland or otherwise objectionable taste.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for dispensing beverages which is relatively simple and low in cost, yet is reliable and efficient as a means of imparting an enjoyable taste to bland or otherwise objectionable liquids.